Women Living Well - Spring 2005
Student Papers
On Serendip

Glenn, Mimi, and Matt all talked about balance in the sense that it is ultimately important to be content with one's life and choices that get made about how to live life.

For Glenn, the balance stems from managing time so that everything that needs to occur does so, with time left for just for fun activities. Mimi talked about balance from the perspective of food and how she likes to discourage thinking about foods in terms of whether they are "good" or "bad." Instead, it is important for an individual to eat a variety of foods, 10% of which can be "fun." Matt discussed balance from the perspective of being fit. He indicated that it was undesirable for an individual to have a workout plan that she does not enjoy. It is similarly undesirable for a person to have a workout plan that is the same every time because then it is not challenging and therefore is not as effective as it could be.

Glenn and Mimi both talked about the importance of having space for fun. For Glenn, this notion asserts itself in the form of reading a novel that is not for a class or by enjoying the afternoon by lying outside on a blanket. These activities can occur because time was managed sufficiently well so that everything that needs to be done is finished. While the individual is sunbathing, she can be consuming a popsicle because Amy indicated that we should not stress about what we eat because 10% of the food can have effectively no nutritional value. That is acceptable as long as the unhealthy food is something that the individual enjoys.

Glenn and Matt overlap because if an individual manages her time well, she can have time for exercise. Physical fitness contributes to a balanced life, but it also provides a way to have fun. It can be in the form of participating as part of an athletic team. However, it can also be in the form of spontaneously going for a run through softly falling rain. For exercise, it is important to maintain consistency by working out three to five times a week. Less than that will not be effective and working out every day will provide negligible benefits above the ones that are gained from exercising three to five times a week.

Matt and Mimi both talk about enjoyment in terms of living a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a healthy weight. For Matt, this meant going the same distance at a faster rate or going the same rate for a longer period of time. Doing so allows a person to burn more calories and thus to maintain a state of fitness. However, it is important that a person establishes being fit before she attempts to make her workout plan more difficult. What Mimi said contributes because she talked about the approximate amount of calories we should consume and how we can lose weight by eating slightly less while continuing to remain active.

All three speakers are important in contributing to a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle, yet none of them are sufficient on their own. A person can manage her time well, but neglect to ever exercise or eat healthy food. Similarly, she can do any of the three things well while failing at the other two. This would result in a lifestyle that is neither healthy nor balanced.


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